So on Christmas day I weighed 15st12lbs (I'm only 5'7"), had been ill for 3 months, felt terrible. Anyone who had been on the Peaks ride last autumn will agree with me that my fitness is shocking.

Over the last 3 or so years I've tried to get fitter and lose weight but have always been sidetracked by illness or injury. Well this time something clicked.

I started a strict calorie controlled diet (using Myfitnesspal app on my phone) and started running to help lose the pounds and improve my bike fitness.

First time I ran I couldnt manage the first running stint my iPhone app Couchto5k asked me to do - it only asked for 45 seconds. I used to be a sprinter when I was younger so I knew it would be hard but that was really bad.

Well yesterday, after 10 weeks of all this I now weigh 14st2lbs, a loss of 24lbs so far and I entered my first ParkRun which is a timed run on 5km in my local park - I did it in 35mins but most importantly I didn't stop once. I've got a bit of knee pain from an old injury but otherwise felt great. Also last weekends Lakes ride I did and wasn't at the back all the time, which felt amazing. When we got the the lunch break i felt like I'd hardly ridden.

So if you want to lose weight and get fitter, make a plan and go for it. I've aimed to lose 2lb a week which is a recommended safe limit. It's been really really really hard work but it's been worth every second. My wife has been very supportive but I've done it for myself most of all.

I'm aiming for 12st so I'm nearly half way there - another 15 weeks and I'll be fitter and leaner and AWESOME.

I've learnt if you want to do this sort of thing there are no short cuts, no quick fixes, just hard graft if you want to make it stick!

Congrats, I would like to shed a few pounds and get fitter but 2 things stop me.

1, My love of bacon buttys and pies.2, Too much like hard work

Paddy

I love food so much, and yes it's been really tough, but the difference you notice is amazing.

What is pretty good is that when you have a treat like a bacon butty when you've not had one for ages it tastes so much better than when you have them all the time - I used to eat whole packets of biscuits and loads of chocolate - now I don't but if I have 1 biscuit or just a small amount of chocolate it's way more enjoyable than before.

Wow, nice going Rob!! That’s some impressive commitment, and it’s good to see that you’re getting the results you deserve!!

I’m gonna chuck in my 2p’s worth in case it helps, I’m currently writing my Masters thesis on obesity in public health and exercise physiology. Basically, current thinking is that all the exercise guidelines and whatnot are based on and aimed at normal weight people, if you’re overweight or obese, your body reacts differently to exercise so you should be doing less.

I’ve got a research trial starting in a few months to prove this point, but the pilot study finished last week, we reduced exercise by 20% for an overweight guy and got a 5% reduction in waist circumference (‘cos that’s the most important health indicator in obesity – and it means your jeans aren’t as tight…) after 8 weeks with no dieting or any other lifestyle change. The result was the same as we would have expected for a normal weight person.

There’s a few points you can take from that, firstly, if you’re running, you’re running too fast and too long. Everyone assumes that you have to run fast, you really don’t, it actually reduces your ability to lose weight. A light jog, barely above walking pace is about right. You’re looking for 65% of your maximum heart rate (220 minus your age is as good as anything), which you can check by counting your pulse at your wrist for 15secs and multiplying by 4. My trial would propose that you run at that pace for 190 minutes each week – or 38 minutes for five days a week.

The low running pace means that you’re a LOT less likely to get injured, and running becomes easier and therefore more enjoyable!!

We’re getting results with no dieting, because you don’t want to be dieting the rest of your life, and, if we had to make you either diet or exercise to lose weight, it’s gotta be exercise. Diets are getting so extreme nowadays that people are dying, that’s not right… Besides, if you’re stable at a certain weight, then it means that your body has balanced the energy input with output, so we’re simply adding more output at a level that won’t encourage stuffing yerself with chocolate digestives when you get home.

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